A standard quarterly government report showing sharp air-fare declines in the second quarter is getting a lot of attention today, but really: What’s the point? The second quarter ended in June, and that news is …, well, it’s useless, frankly, to anyone interested in current fares.
As anyone interested in current fares knows, they’ve been going up steadily since the summer. Major airlines recently succeeded in installing their fifth successive nearly across-the-board fare hike since June (they’re a little less eager to hike fares on routes where there are discount competitors.)
I use Farecompare.com and the regular updates from its CEO Rick Seaney to stay on top of current fare trends. In the airline business, April, May and June were a long time ago.
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